industrial lord

Chapter 644 Black Wolf
“Can we really enjoy the luxury of peace?”

Baron Sto's murmurs at the time of parting left Maria unable to calm down for a long time.

In her memory, the closest she felt to war was the "Six-Day Battle" in which Frederick made his name eleven years ago.

At that time, she and her mother waited by the radio every day for the latest news, while her father discussed various possibilities with the Grand Duke of Mainz every day.

The later Battle of the Elbe was far away, reported only after the victory, and although larger in scale it lacked any of the tension.

Frederick established his military status after this battle. In subsequent wars, Maria always felt that he was just going to gain military merits and was not nervous at all.

During this trip, Maria felt that the war was very close to her, right beside her.

Today's campsite is an abandoned small town. The city wall facing the main road and half of the city area have been reduced to rubble in the ravages of war.

"The wells are all blocked." Tony reported to Frederick, "We tried to dig up a few old wells, but they were full of human bones. We need to dig new wells."

"I asked Sir Jory Stowe. The groundwater level here used to be very low, so the lord built a dam on the river next to it to raise the groundwater level. That's why there are shallow wells."

"The dam was destroyed during the war, so now we have to dig very deep."

Frederick sighed inwardly. It seemed that there had been a siege and a large-scale massacre here before.

Tony said angrily, "The advance team made a mistake in their work. They didn't check carefully. Judging from the wheel tracks and footprints, they only took a look outside and didn't go into the city."

"Give them a warning," said Frederick.

Tony nodded, and someone came to report the new situation.

"Bitten by a wolf?" Frederick felt incredible.

It's not surprising that there are wild beasts inside, but it's very strange that people in the guard company were bitten by wolves.

The person who came to report said somewhat depressedly: "The black wolf was hiding in the well, and the fool stuck his head out to look and got bit on the nose."

"There's a hole under the well, and we haven't gone in yet."

At this time, Jory came to see Frederick.

Baron Stowe wanted to cling to Frederick's support, so he asked his younger brother Jory to accompany him as a guide.

Jory came over and heard this, so he said to Frederick, "My lord, that black wolf is famous in these parts. I have seen it before."

Frederick became interested and asked curiously, "Tell me more about it."

Jory said, "That was thirty years ago, when the wolf was still a cub."

"That wolf was an Anglo-Black wolf bought by a merchant in this city. It was sold in my town at the time. My brother wanted to buy it, but our family was a little tight at the time, so my father didn't agree."

"Later, my brother brought me here secretly and found out that the merchant gave the black wolf to his son as a gift."

"We tried to lure the wolf cub with a chicken leg and steal it back, but it didn't fall for it."

"Twenty-four years ago, this city was conquered by the Piast Kingdom, and then the city was massacred and looted. Soon after, all the people fled."

"People near us are afraid of the plague and have been afraid to go there, but some people have seen black wolves living here."

Frederick frowned, had a premonition in his heart, and said, "Let's go and take a look."

He led his men into the city and explored the surrounding situation.

The result made him shudder, and there were many broken human bones under the rubble.

In a ruined building, all the bones except the skull were found, and the hands looked like they were tied behind the back.

This made him guess that these dead people were thrown into the house after death, and then the collapsed house was used to cover the bodies.

"Sir Stowe," Frederick called to Jory, "can you do me a favor?"

Jory didn't ask what he was going to do, and immediately answered, "No problem."

Frederick said, "I will pay, and you gather men nearby to clear the rubble and bury the dead underneath."

"This matter is not urgent, it can be done during the slack season."

Qiao Li didn't expect this to happen, and immediately replied: "No problem, I can arrange it right away." Frederick nodded and said: "I will leave a few people to help you, set up a project department, and you will be in charge."

Jory agreed immediately.

He was a little puzzled, how did Grand Duke Wessen know that there were corpses under the ruins?
Frederick nodded, pleased with his response.

There will be a Wesson Army member growing up in his family in the future. If we build a good relationship with him now, it will be much easier to carry out our work in the future.

The group came to a well, which was quite far away from the crowd.

There was a man with his face wrapped in gauze and his nose was red, and he was being laughed at by his comrades.

Maria also came, with the black wolf lying in front of her. Beside her stood Dafranche, Ella, whom he had kidnapped, and the merchants who were watching the fun.

The black wolf was very old. The hair on its tail had almost fallen out, its body was covered with spots, its nose was dry and had deep cracks, and there was a scar on its right hind leg.

Maria squatted beside it, gently combing the hair on its back with her hands, whispering something like "Don't worry".

Frederick squatted beside Maria and asked, "Why are you here?"

Maria replied: "I heard from Ella that there is a black wolf guarding the treasure here, so I came here."

She was very good at dealing with animals, and the black wolf was quiet at the moment, not looking like it had just bitten someone.

At this time, there was movement at the mouth of the well and someone climbed up.

There is a hole under the well. Maria just sent a few short guards to go in and take a look.

After reconnaissance, it was discovered that there was a passage on the side of the well wall, which was a secret escape passage for a wealthy family. Two bodies were found inside.

Frederick immediately arranged for people to clean the well and prepare to go down.

The diameter of this well is more than one meter, so it is relatively easy to clean, and a passage was dug quickly.

The entrance of the passage is not wide and extends horizontally. After climbing a long distance and then climbing up a slope, you come to a shelter that is two or three meters high and wide.

If there is water in the well, this passage will be the water intake for the shelter.

The smell here is very bad. There are two human remains next to the entrance of the passage, and all around are densely packed animal bones, as high as the knees. There are rabbits, pheasants, and several rotting rabbit carcasses next to the two human remains.

Fortunately, they carried gas masks with them, otherwise they would have been suffocated to death.

A guard said incredulously: "Could it be that the black wolf..."

He couldn't continue speaking, this was too unbelievable.

Frederick said: "You guessed right, it has been bringing food to the two masters."

"It's just...ah..."

The two people had jewelry on them and looked to be a mother and her son of a few years old, except that the son's skull had a dent from being hit by a heavy object, and the mother had an arrow in her back.

Frederick pointed to the passage at the other end of the shelter and said, "I'll go over there and open a passage leading to the ground. Go up and tell the photography team to come over."

He was worried that the air there was unaffordable, and thought he could get through by holding his breath because he was strong enough.

As expected, the other end of the passage was buried under the rubble. This did not pose a problem for Frederick; he simply blew it up.

Not long after, the remains of the mother and son were taken out of the shelter on a wooden board and placed next to the well.

The black wolf staggered to its feet, walked to its master, raised its head and let out a long howl filled with sorrow.

Many people gathered here. They already knew what Black Wolf had done in the past twenty years, and many of them wiped their eyes.

It started to rain lightly, as if tears were falling from the sky.

The howl gradually weakened. Frederick walked to his side, touched the black wolf's head, and said, "Don't worry, I will bury your master."

The black wolf seemed to understand and rubbed his leg with its nose, then lay down beside its owner and reunited with him in eternal dreams.

(End of this chapter)